Every Day Is Earth Day

My almost 7 year old and I were on the way to school the day after Earth Day and she let out with one of those "out of the mouths of babes" kind of statements. She usually comes up with these pronouncements after one of her rare quiet moments. She says, " Momma, actually, EVERY day is Earth Day. Why do we only have ONE day a year that we call Earth Day?" Well, she is right. Every day IS Earth Day. I explained how every day she is a day older but we only celebrate her birthday one day out of the year...
I told her about how I remembered the very first Earth Day in 1970. I was only a couple of years older than she is now. I told her how we got out of the classroom that day and cleaned up the school yard and planted trees and learned about the importance of taking care of the environment. I asked her what she had done for Earth Day at her school. I was disappointed, they watched a movie about Earth Day and wrote a journal entry. Not bad stuff to do but I would have felt much better about them getting out into the environment in some small way...
It all got me to thinking about the ways that we can honor the Earth each and every day. As a gardener who is concerned with the empowerment that comes with growing your own food, I realize that the things I do each day to support my garden also support the Earth. Those everyday things like composting and recycling the waste in my life and working to leave a smaller footprint.
Over the weekend, in full scavenger mode, I salvaged a great stack of plant pots from the neighbor's trash. I snagged them for my transplants. I also picked up a bag of grass clippings that another neighbor had put out on the street. Grass clipping are a fabulous addition to help any compost pile go thermophilic. And the score of all scores, two carloads of old hay from a construction site which will be put to use as mulch throughout my garden. Mulching helps to not only keep down weed infiltration, but keep the soil cool and moist. I have also added three more 60 gallon rainwater barrels to the two that I already had going to increase my rainwater catchment and minimize my need to use city water on my plants.
We also watched a movie called The Eleventh Hour . Watch the movie and check out the website for important information on the actions you can take to make a difference every day for our environment. Everyone should see this movie and then you will KNOW just how important it is that we all realize that EVERY DAY must indeed be Earth Day before it is too late.